Key commanders disobey orders, judging them to be illegal

[Anchor]

During the emergency martial law, key commanders were assigned various tasks, including the order to remove members of the National Assembly, but they claimed that they did not follow such directives on the ground.

These commanders instructed troops not to carry live ammunition and did not deploy armored vehicles, stating that they took measures to manage the situation in order to prevent civilian casualties.

Go Eun-hee reports.

[Report]

Immediately after the declaration of emergencymartial law, Special Warfare Commander Kwak Jong-keun stated that he received orders to remove lawmakers from the National Assembly's main chamber.

[Kwak Jong-keun/Special Warfare Commander: "Former Minister Kim Yong-hyun instructed me to take the personnel inside the National Assembly, the lawmakers, outside." ]

The Special Warfare Commander said he judged this instruction to be illegal and chose not to follow the order.

[Kwak Jong-keun/Special Warfare Commander: "Those who would have carried out that mission would naturally face legal responsibility later. Since it was an order given to me, I knew it would be disobedience, but I did not assign that mission."]

There were also testimonies that commanders managed the situation to prevent civilian casualties during the emergency martial law.

The Capital Defense Commander also explained the situation regarding the deployment of troops to the National Assembly, emphasizing that armored vehicles were not deployed and that the troops were sent to the scene without carrying firearms.

[Lee Jin-woo/Capital Defense Commander: "I saw that there were too many people on the scene. So I instructed them to leave all the firearms in the vehicle and carry out the mission unarmed."]

However, there were also voices of regret about not being able to refuse the martial law operation orders from the beginning.

[Kwak Jong-keun/Special Warfare Commander: "As a soldier, I thought I had to obey that. At that time, my judgment regarding any illegality was somewhat limited..."]

Regarding the possibility of a second martial law, they expressed their intention to refuse if illegal orders were issued.

This is KBS News Go Eun-hee.